StrikeForce News - Page 43

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Kennedy rose to fame partially for an early-career victory over Jason "Mayhem" Miller, as well as his military service. The 30-year-old IFL vet served in the U.S. Army, toured the Middle East multiple times, and won the Army's Bronze Medal Star medal for valor under fire.

Just a few days after it was announced that she would defend her Srikeforce Women's Middleweight Title on 6/26, Cristiane Santos now has her challenger: Jan Finney. The fight will likely be the co-main event on 6/26. Finney, making her SF debut, has only an 8-7 career mark but has won her last 4 fights after starting her career 4-7.

All ten athletes scheduled to compete on Saturday’s Strikeforce “Heavy Artillery” main card will be tested by the promotion on Friday, Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou told Sherdog.com.
Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, his challenger Brett Rogers, Andrei Arlovski, and Antonio Silva are among those who will be asked to submit a sample for testing.

Heavyweight prospect Bobby Lashley (5-0 MMA, 1-0 SF) got a little more notice this time around.
After two scheduling snafus kept him from the Strikeforce cage in April and May, The former TNA and WWE "professional wrestler" will face fellow undefeated heavyweight Ron Sparks (5-0 MMA, 0-0 SF) on the televised portion of "Strikeforce: Los Angeles."
Multiple sources close to the event today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that verbal agreements have been reached between the fighters and contracts are expected shortly.

Former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson is ready to get back in the cage, only he doesn’t quite know against who yet.
Thomson on Thursday posted on his facebook page that his next fight will be as part of the Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum fight card co-promoted by Strikeforce and M-1 Global at the end of June.
“Im fighting June 26th in San Jose, Ca. @ the HP Pavilion on Showtime. My opponent is TBD and i should know by the weekends end (sic),” he wrote on facebook.

Strikeforce world female middleweight champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (9-1 MMA, 3-0 SF) will put her title on the line against an as-yet-unannounced opponent on June 26.
As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first reported, Santos is now officially scheduled to compete at the June 26 Strikeforce and M-1 Global co-promoted event "Fedor vs. Werdum."
Strikeforce officials made the announcement late Thursday night. Santos will compete on the evening's Showtime-broadcast main card.
Featuring a main event between top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko and Brazilian submission ace Fabricio Werdum, "Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum" takes place June 26 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. Tickets go on sale to the general public today.

"After I lost to Brett Rogers, I had meetings with all my trainers, and they gave me a lot of ultimatums. They said that I had to do it their way, or that I would have to start to look for new trainers. When I fought Rogers I didn't stick to my game plan and I didn't take him seriously. Everything happens for a reason, and I'm more disciplined now. I'm definitely going to stick to my game plan. No more flying knees like against Emelianenko. No more putting my hands down like I did against Rogers. No more losing. I just can't lose again. It's very dramatic for me to lose fights and I want to climb back into the top. It's going to be a very tough and important fight for me."

While Strikeforce fighters Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez await word from the Tennessee Athletic Commission to find out how they will be affected by their involvement in an April post-fight brawl, Strikeforce officials are playing a similar waiting game with their broadcast partners at CBS.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that CBS officials have yet to contact him regarding the possibility of broadcasting a third fight card on the network.
Nevertheless, Coker said there's no need for panic just yet, and he remains "hopeful" Strikeforce will return to CBS airwaves later this year.

Shu Hirata is the manager for some of Japan's most successful MMA fighters. Takeya Mizugaki, Yoshiyuki Yoshida and many more Japanese fighters fight under Hirata's management. But since the demise of PRIDE FC in 2007, many have begun to question the level of Japanese MMA and Japanese fighters.
It is Hirata's job to bring Japanese fighters to the West and to help them be successful. He is better at his job than anyone else. In this MMAFighting.com exclusive interview, Hirata sheds light on the problems with Japanese MMA, the failure of Shinya Aoki and the future of the sport in Japan.

Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers may be fighting for the Stikeforce heavyweight title in St. Louis on Saturday night, but it doesn't necessarily mean they'll have to undergo pre or post-fight drug tests to do it.
Despite the title being on the line, and despite widespread questions about Overeem's growth in recent years (including a remark from Rogers about his opponent's "eastern diet"), Tim Lueckenhoff of the Missouri Office of Athletics confirmed that there is no guarantee that any particular fighter will be tested for banned substances, championship bout or no.

The Heat will not be on in Strikeforce anytime soon. Former UFC Welterweight Karo Parisyan will not be going to Strikeforce to continue his career as a proposed deal is off. The proposed deal called for Parisyan to fight at "Strikeforce: Los Angeles" on June 16 against an opponent to be determined. SF CEO Scott Coker confirmed reports the proposed deal has been shelved.

Siyar Bahadurzada has his eyes set on a U.S. debut. The Sengoku and Shooto veteran recently signed a four-fight exclusive contract with Strikeforce. The current Shooto Light Heavyweight Champion (which actually is contested at what's currently the Middleweight division elsewhere) will drop to Welterweight and hopes to debut in SF later this year.

A welterweight bout between Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (17-13) and Marius Zaromskis (13-4) has been penciled in for June 16's Strikeforce: Los Angeles event at the Nokia Theatre, MMA Fighting has learned from sources close to the fight.

With Saturday's "Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery" card quickly approaching, the organization today announced the official lineup for the night's un-aired preliminary card. The most significant item is that Lyle Beerbohm vs. Vitor Ribeiro is still on as planned. Although the fight appeared in jeopardy when Beerbohm publicly solicited advice to get out of his contract, the situation was resolved this past week. A total of 7 prelims are set for the 12-fight card.

A scheduled Lyle Beerbohm vs. Vitor Ribeiro fight at the 5/15 Strikeforce event is still on despite news in the last 24 hours that Beerbohm stated he wanted out of his SF contract. "I've spoken with Lyle, (Strikeforce CEO) Scott Coker and (Strikeforce matchmaker) Rich Chou, and the fight is on," says Phil Lanides, Beerbohm's representative. Beerbohm's post, however, put the matchup in doubt. "I'm looking for a lawyer to get me out of contract with Strikeforce," he wrote Thursday evening. "Please help." Coker expects Beerbohm to honor hsi contract and fight but is prepared to find a replacement if need be.

The ink is almost dry on a rematch between former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le (6-1 MMA, 6-1 SF) and Scott Smith (17-6 MMA, 3-1 SF) for a card slated for June 26 on Showtime.
Sources close to the event told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that both fighters have agreed to the contest, which could take co-main event status, and await bout agreements. MMAjunkie.com initially reported the possibility of the bout in April.
The June 26 event, titled "Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum," is slated for the HP Pavilion in Strikeforce's home city of San Jose, Calif. As the title suggests, a long-anticipated showdown between top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko and Brazilian challenger Fabricio Werdum headlines.

Strikeforce has confirmed that Kevin Randleman has been medically cleared to fight Roger Gracie on May 15, a day after an illness called into question whether Randleman would be able to fight.
Randleman began to feel sick with what he believed was a staph infection while preparing for the Gracie fight, and he feared that he might need to bow out. The 38-year-old Randleman even told Sherdog that he would consider retiring if he couldn't get medical clearance to fight on May 15.

Strikeforce Women's Middleweight Champion Cristiane Santos has been pulled off the 6/16 SF event and moved to the 6/26 event in San Jose. Opponent TBA but they appear to be looking for an international foe and the fight will be for the title. Scott Coker says if they're able to do this, they'll have both the top male fighter (Fedor) and the top female fighter on the same card.

While more details won't be known until later today, the Roger Gracie vs. Kevin Randleman fight at Strikeforce's 5/15 event could be off. Randleman could be forced to withdraw due to illness and a possible staph infection, he should know more once he sees his physician later today.
UPDATE: The fight is on. Randleman has been cleared to take antibiotics that will allow him to recover in time to fight. The former UFC heavyweight champion came down with staph infection while training at multiple gyms in Las Vegas. According to Elizabeth Randleman (his wife and manager), his clearance to fight was delayed when he was prescribed medication to treat the illness. Fearing the drugs could produce a positive result in a drug test, she consulted the Missouri State Athletic Commission, which oversees next Saturday's event. The commission allowed him to use the medication, which green-lighted the fight, she said.